Can Proposed Changes to the EEO-1 Form Eliminate the Gender Pay Gap? By Dan Atkerson on April 06, 2016

In 2014, President Obama signed a memorandum that would require all federal contractors to show their wage data in order to promote salary transparency and hopefully reduce the gender pay gap. Since then, however, Obama has released a revised plan.

This newer proposal calls for a change to the EEO-1 form, an already existing document many employers in the U.S. are required to fill out which reports on the sex, race, and ethnicity of their employees. This document is used to enforce discrimination laws by the EEOC, and could be used in the future to enforce equal pay as well.

Vice President of Government Relations at the American Association of University Women, Lisa Maatz, recently voiced her strong support in favor of the proposed changes at a hearing before the EEOC. Maatz hailed the changes as “innovative and responsive improvements” and believes that they will greatly increase awareness.

Maatz is certain that the proposed changes can be widely beneficial for a number of reasons. For example, the changes would make it easier for employers to stay in compliance since they come on a pre-existing document and therefore will not require a separate form.

Benefits of Proposed Changes to EEO-1 Form

The changes to the EEO-1 form could drastically decrease the gender pay gap in three very important ways, including:

Promoting transparency
Allowing employers to self-monitor and remedy compensation discrepancies
Providing more information for EEOC equal pay enforcement

Compensation should be based solely on the work an employee does rather than gender, race, etc. the gender pay gap is a form of sex discrimination that should not be tolerated. The benefits of the proposed changes to the EEO-1 would likely do a lot to increase awareness and decrease equal pay violations.